Brief Description: Peter Durbridge, working as a 'Thin boy' fills water tanks with biscuit tins for export to Colombo

Subject Date: 1954

Full Description: To maximise precious cargo space on ships, Huntley & Palmers packed water tanks with their products. This work required the smallest boys at the factory to get inside the tanks for packing. In the 1950s a newspaper told the story of this 'Thin boy', Peter Durbridge from Arborfield Cross. 15 year old Peter was lowered through 14 inch openings into the 4 foot square tanks. He got the job by answering an advertisement for a "Thin boy who does not like biscuits." Millions of biscuits were exported all over the world in these tanks. When they arrived at places like Borneo, Zanzibar and Aden they were unloaded and the tanks sold as another export.